Ai Weiwei's Millions of Sunflower Seeds Coming to New York

Dissident Chinese artist Ai Weiwei’s seeds have left London’s Tate Modern and are coming to New York’s Mary Boone Gallery this Saturday. Well, some of them — we doubt they filled Boone to the ceiling with seeds. Don’t expect to play with them either. It’s been awhile since visitors (and naked protestors) ran amok in the Sunflower Seeds, as the porcelain specimens hand-crafted by Chinese artisans have been deemed toxic. Don’t rule interactivity out just yet!

You can always shoot real sunflower seeds into the heap with a slingshot, just don’t expect Mary Boone to be as amused by it as Ai Weiwei was. See the many, tiny “common metaphors for The People during China’s Cultural Revolution” as a statement on “the role of the individual versus the masses” and “China’s long history of labor-intensive production and export” in “Sunflower Seeds,” Ai Weiwei, Mary Boone Gallery, Jan 7 – Feb 4, NYC